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I made this mod is for Warriors and Guardians and incorporates elements of the "Artifact Batons" mod by Gameman as well as a completely new zone.

Gameman and myself have tested the whole thing and theKian has kindly betatested parts of it.

After certain Rebel missions you can request to be made Captain of the Rebellion and be given a base to command. For Shaper-minded individuals, you'll be given the chance to betray the Rebellion if you so choose.

This mod is designed only for Guardians and Warriors! Using a different class would be problematic since the new quests, rewards and equipment are geared towards those two classes! A Shaper will see little benefit from a recipe that gives a good baton for example, or an agent would become overly powerful if she is given the ability to include in her party a large group of free-from-essence reliable allies (while a lifecrafter\Shaper could make better).
NPCs will regard the player as a Warrior or Guardian which affects some of the dialogue aside of the rewards.

- Artifact Batons and exceptionally powerful shields and weapons. However, unlike the Artifact Baton mod (thanks Gamerman!), in order to make them you have to locate the recipes!
- Multiple new mid-late game quests.
- A completely new zone, West of Dera Bridge. To locate it and the secrets within you need to establish a base and complete certain quests.
- Rebalance the classes. Removed the resistances for Shaper classes to make them compatible with their respective Rebel classes (Guardian still has the starting essence bonus)
- Control of a base gives you several benefits. Some of these include requesting soldiers to join your party, salary and quests with significant rewards.
- New mechanic: Combat Worthiness. Your soldiers start as a ragtag group and can be trained and equipped to become an elite force.
- New characters and NPCs to react with, with their stories, problems, agendas and motivations.
- Experience and Equipment shortcuts. Now, you don't have to complete side quests you've done a dozen times or visit zones that you don't find interesting just to level up or gather a little money. At certain points through the game a level check will be made and you'll be asked whether you want extra XP, coins and equipment.
The checks are made: On a new game. When you enter Mera Tev (if you're below level 14). When you enter the North Plains (if you're below level 24). Outside Ghazaki Uss (if you're below level 30). At the Dera Bridge (if you're below level 35).
- Canister abuse has an impact on some of the new quests.

This mod doesn't alter the existing story of the game or the endings in any way. It adds content to the game, it doesn't change existing content.

For those interested in modding: Since I could do it, so can you. Not every mod has to be a big multi-month project. Modding is caring.

A LITTLE HELP ABOUT THE MOD:
- To set up the base, you have to do a specific quest for the Rebels. It is in the introduction of several zones.
- After you do that quest, a dialogue option opens up with Greta and Ghaldring in Gazaki-Uss
- You are under the command of General Greta, a moderate. The better your relation with Greta's faction of the Rebels the bigger your salary and rewards.
- You will get options to betray the Rebellion, even very far into the main quest. This will heavily adjust your relations with the Shapers so that it would be possible to join them.
- You don't get -anything- for betraying the Rebellion, other the possibility (with some work) to join the Shapers and the enmity of the Rebels. Don't expect to walk to Alwan or Taygen and tell him "I was a captain of the Rebels, hit the Shapers mightly and then I betrayed the Rebels. What do I get in return?". As such, even if you want to join the Shapers I suggest you progress a lot in the quest before you do it, to get most of the rewards.
- The Rebellion expects their commanders to be close to the ideals of the Rebellion. Your salary (and certain events) are also based on your Rebel\Shaper reputation.
- Doing quests for Greta and improving your relation with her allows you to request more resources and manpower from her for an increase in your troops combat worthiness.

A big thank you to Gamerman for the Artifact Baton mod and betatesting and theKian for betatest.

Update: Without any reported problems from several players that used this mod, I decided to move it out of Beta

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Regarding the guns comment: True, haha. Ranged weapons>Melee weapons, every time. But at the same time, reality shouldn't really dictate gameplay itself, IMO. Then again, I could just buff melee weapons myself when the mod comes out. It wouldn't be particularly hard.

Soldiers: So treat them as if they're weaker War Tralls until they start getting some of their more potent upgrades. Understood. Should I expect these soldiers to have the health and resistances of a weaker War Trall as well? No answer to the durability question, or at least I didn't see one. I don't want my soldiers to die en masse to everything the late game throws at me... XD

A more aggressive Shadow Road. Much more secretive though compared to the Shadow Road; that got discovered real fast. XD

Greedy Drayk asking for money to get to an area despite me being able to get there myself? LOL, no. XD

Going to guess that this secret servile trafficking route is going to have something where you have to defend it every now and then, since it sounds like you've got forces and optional creations there to defend it. Probably by Taygen's forces, or something like that.

Ahhh... so this route is used to help the rebels attack the Dera Reaches. You're essentially helping the rebellion in secret doing this. I can see now why this needs to be kept secret and how disastrous it'd be for you if the Shapers find out about this. But at the same time, I do not like Taygen, and it seems no one in-universe or out of it does either, so... where do I sign up?! XD

I've got more questions for you alhoon about your Warrior mod, but I'll save those for when you make your thread about the Warrior mod.

Melee weapons: Yeah, it takes like 5 minutes to do it.

Soldiers: As very weak tralls, until they get poison upgrade at which point you can treat them as half-wartralls since they have the exact same functionality... I.e. ranged support.

Ahhh... not sure what the war-trall's resistances are. The Servile soldiers that you get with you are resistant to many things except physical damage (and they are the ones with the venom batons and poisoned blades). The human serviles are less resistant poison, acid etc but have better armor and don't deal poison.

Unless you train and take care of your soldiers they will die en masse to everything from the early game, as they start as like level 12-13. Trained and equipped and having a specific quest they go all the way up to 33-34 or something with better resistances and damage.

I didn't say the Shadow Road Mk II is more secretive, I said it is made in secret...

You can convince the Drayk that you're his boss so no money from you for his hoard.

You are not helping the Rebellion in secret... I just didn't make the changes so that you're automatically attacked by Alwan's forces as well the moment you step in his base. I was thinking since you can do pretty much everything like walk into his forts and wipe them out by late game and nobody bats an eye in Perikalia, I would just not make it a "switch" that marks you automatically as enemy of the Shapers.

However (this is spoily)

The Shapers send an agent to kill you despite Rawal's papers that give you access to Terrestia.

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No problem. I'm more than happy to share my assets for your mod. Also, new zone! New quests! New characters! Cutting down on grinding! Yay!

Removing the bugged resistances from the Shaper classes makes sense, though it's going to make them feel no different than their rebel counterparts. Kinda wish there were more ways to differentiate classes, but eh. I'll probably just modify the classes myself when the mod comes out.

Consequences for canister abuse... doesn't bother me too much, since I don't really use canisters a ton, but at the same time, I suspect the reason why the original game doesn't have more issues with canister abuse is because you've already reShaped yourself twice, along with the implied tons of canisters you partook in your past life, so the game thinks you've already gone insane. Dunno, I'm just speculating here. But like before, I can just remove the interactions myself if they're problematic.

I'm guessing that you can play the other classes in this mod, it's just you wouldn't receive the benefits a Guardian or Warrior would. Probably wouldn't differ in terms of gameplay that badly though.

So you're going to be under the command of General Greta, a leader of the rebellion. It also seems your soldiers and supplies are also from the rebellion as well, if I'm reading this correctly. Hmm. You did say it's possible to betray the rebellion, right? Wouldn't these soldiers be... less than inclined to go with you if you do betray the rebels? They are soldiers of the rebellion, after all. Or am I missing something here?

Also, regarding the soldiers, are there going to be any unique soldiers? Something closer to Avadon's recruitable characters (or even GF3's NPC companions), where they've got their own thoughts, ideas, upgrades, capabilities, etc? Or are all of the soldiers going to be expendable, essence free meat shields for the Warrior/Guardian captain? Just curious.

Soldiers being essentially very weak War Tralls is still pretty good... we're comparing them to what is essentially if not the strongest, then one of the strongest creations in the game. So the soldiers (I'm speculating here) are something like this then?

Kinda curious what upgrades the human soldiers get. Stronger blades? Even more armor?

The original Shadow Road was made in secret as well I think, and quite frankly, it wasn't kept secret very well... XD

Regarding the Drayk: Good to know I can still talk my way through some sticky situations. Going to guess this Drayk has some importance, right? Because if he doesn't, well... *looks at Drayk's hoard, looks at my overpowered player character, gets an evil smile*

So becoming a rebel captain and creating a Shadow Road Mk II in the Dera Reaches does have consequences, if your spoiler is anything to go by. Good to know. Going to guess that won't stop me from joining certain factions, right? (Astoria for example probably won't mind all that much, considering what she's been doing in-universe, Ghaldring obviously won't mind at all).

More rewards the more you sympathize with the rebels. Makes sense, since you're a rebel captain. That does mean you're effectively locked out of most Shaper factions, but hey, I dislike Taygen a lot (Purity Agent bullsh*t, locking creations in camps, blah blah blah blah), and I utterly hate Rawal (Control tools, taking illegal canister creation tomes, MAKING A ******* GENEFORGE). Not being able to be in Alwan's faction is regrettable, but hey, I like Astoria's faction, and Ghaldring's faction is great for when you just want to utterly destroy Taygen and Rawal (I've joined Ghaldring's faction once or twice, just to kill the two aforementioned Shapers. They're the worst of the bunch, soo... LET THE RAGE FLOW!!!)

Edited May 29, 2017 by Gameman112358Bad Language

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I have taken that into account. There are other things that creep in, not just arrogance, but I won't say more. IIRC the only time GF4 arrogance kicks in is if you face a mutiny in the base where having consumed many cannisters after re-Geneforged locks out the option to negotiate and you just kill them.

But that's in the game too in a way, when Makar tries to goad you to attack him (that you may easily keep control \ barely keep control) and on a bridge (barely keep control \ lose control).

Class choice:

I was actually thinking of locking the other classes out and then said "Nah". Warriors start with less essence and gain more. And since that mod is for Guardians\Warriors this differentiation is IMO, all that needed.

That said... No, the game would be really weird for non-Guardian\Shapers. I mean, what would a lifecrafter do with a perfected baton that would make a Guardian cry from joy? An agent getting tons of free followers on top of insanely superior magic? Imba.

Soldiers in your party:

One is a joinable NPC, talks a lot. Gives hints for quests if you have her around. Often speaks for flavor.

One NPC joins for a quest, talks a few times quest related.

The rest are stock NPCs (with names coming from a pool of 24 names though!) that you go to your drill sergeant and tell him "I want soldiers to join me!" and he gives you two for a hit in combat worthiness as you take the best.

Human soldiers just get the bonuses that don't show: better armor and weapons (i.e. attack bonuses; their attack bonus increases faster than the serviles).

Power level: At first, they're worse than clawbugs. Like, quite worse. In the end, they're about as good as half-wartralls. I say that because by the end, the Serviles will have about as many hp as War Tralls but be slightly less accurate and do about half the damage. I.e.... half-Tralls.

NPCs outside your party:

You get NPCs\creations at some quests to follow you, or you give them a target Shaper-like and let them do it. Remember Pinchy, the ridiculously powerful clawbug that the temporary NPC Shapes? that's one that follows you without joining.

Some others are

A bunch of creations you make before you attack a specific place, telling them "Attack Camp" or "Attack Zone" Shapery.

Bigger spoiler:

An Unbound that the Drakons allow you to use in an attack, which Greta considers bad. You get him nice and placid (unless you have low leadership in which case it snaps and attacks you, like the GF4 ones unless Akari Blaze is around) and activate him. You better stay away cause your presence or that of your creations agitates him. You get messages like "The Unbound seems agitated", "The Unbound is close to turning on you!" until you get the "The Unbound will turn on you!" which is your cue to get far away...

Those that read this please don't comment on it.

As for the "Shadow Road Mk II":

It is not as prominent as the actual Shadow Road; it's less used and it's equally focused on putting people IN Dera Reaches to fight the Shapers as it is for getting creations out.

What Astoria's thoughts would be? Remember, as the game is, she hates Taygen, backstabs Alwan breaking the Line (thus allowing Unbound back in) and shares information with Greta, your superior in the mod, and secretly negotiates with her. The answer from Greta if you work for Astoria in GF5, that I haven't changed, is "You work with Astoria now, you know what she plans". So... I don't have her become involved with my conscience clear.

Alwan, I didn't get involved (directly) cause I figured he's doing damage control in his own land and he takes indirect action against you.

I HAD a plan for Rawal to get involved but alas... I ran out of script space; I could not add the quest.

In the mod, only Taygen gets auto-hostile if you attack Dera Reaches.

And the more important stuff

EDITING THE SCRIPT: You will see many many things that will ruin several surprises if you do that in my opinion...

LOCKED OUT OF FACTIONS: Not necessarily. If you Betray the Rebellion you become redeemable in Shaper eyes. Depending on how low you were, you end up like 2-5 pro-Shaper answers from acceptance.

Frankly, it's easier to get locked out of Ghaldring's faction if you suck up to Greta too much, cause it is evident from GF4-5 that the Drakons consider themselves the bosses of the Rebellion and Greta disagrees.

Betraying the rebellion: You lose the base, the talkable NPC, you're locked of Ghaldring's faction (as in you're attacked if you go Gazaki Uss). The stock soldiers still stay with you.

Attacking the Drayk counts as betraying the Rebellion BTW, the same if you attack your own base.

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I have no equipment worn, so that's their stats (of course the wartrall was made using tons of Shaping artifacts...)

As you can see the servile has the same hp as the 44 lvl war trall, but less armor and deals less damage (also has a 5%-10% less to hit because of bonuses), but poison. So... half war-trall.

I could show you the stats of my servile soldier that I had with me for like 1/3 of the game, who has reached level 40 and gained several levels (I got him when I had soldiers at level 27 or something not 34) so more skill ups, his stats with the artifacts and items I have boosting creations.

But my dog-of-war, my relentless "in-your-face Ghaldring I care not for your attacks with my 1300 hp and 40% resistance to most you throw at me!", that can take an Unbound one on one servile will scare you.

(Poor Nista died in the last battle with Ghaldring though, when I went without any allies or Astoria)

Edited May 28, 2017 by alhoon

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Sooo... here's my question. Why can't you play the mod as a servile? After all, a servile warrior is likely to be just as competent as a warrior or Guardian PC at fighty stuff, and would benefit especially from being able to get proper help in the form of rebel soldiers.

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Oh wow, yeah, servile soldiers look pretty strong when upgraded. They've got less stats, armor, and damage than a War Trall, but they've got the health of a War Trall, and they've got poison on their ranged and melee attacks to compensate (poison's a decent status effect to use on enemies). I'm kinda curious what the human soldier will look like... you said they have better armor and damage, but less resistances. Sounds like human soldiers are DPT (Damage Per Turn) dealers + physical tanks, while servile soldiers are HP sponges + magic tanks + DoT. I'm a little scared to see the human soldier's stats... XD

Quite frankly, I now want to use the other classes with the Warrior mod just to see how broken they can be.

So the majority of the soldiers are expendable meat shields, one of the NPCs talks a lot, gives you hints on the quests you have to do, and one NPC is quest related and has a little bit to say. But aside from some talking, nothing too crazy for the soldier NPCs. Good to know. Having NPC companions that give you hints and tips on what to do exactly is very helpful though, aside from being an extra essence free fighter in the party. I'll probably dabble with more "unique" characters myself when the mod comes out; I can actually can think of a few ways to make certain NPCs more unique, but at the same time, you've already done a lot of the work, and I wouldn't want to put more strain on you.

Creation attack groups! Great, so I can shape a ton of creations to help me without sucking up tons of my limited essence and party slots! Yay!

Regarding me reading the script: I'm one of those people that loves to read the scripts if there's something I'm not sure of or if there's something I want to edit. I'd ruin a lot of surprises, yes, but at the same time, I love to edit the script if given a chance. Playing the game blind first then looking at the script is something I'm taking into consideration, but either way, I'll figure things out pretty fast.

Regarding the locking out of factions: Well, there's the thing. If you betray the rebels, you lose the base, the talkative NPC, locked out of Ghaldring's faction (Don't care, don't like him anyway), basically losing out on the more interesting parts of the mod. That said, it is your mod, not mine, so the decision is up to you, though it just feels you lose out on a lot of the cool stuff if you betray the rebellion. But that's just me; you've already put a lot of effort into this mod, and it would be selfish of me to ask you for more, especially since I didn't help with the mod at all.

Aww, I can't kill the Drayk after all. Oh well, at least I can smooth talk him into not charging me a bunch of money. Good enough for me. At this stage, I probably have enough in the Leadership stat that it won't be a problem (unless you've made the requirement really high). Not being a hindrance is already enough to get on my good side, all things considered.

Question, do these soldiers all have the same graphic sprites? Meaning, in the case of the servile soldier, do they all look the same (servile holding a sword)? Or do some of them use a different graphic? Kinda curious because there's a lot of different graphic sprites in the game that can be used for soldiers. Human soldier NPCs for example seem to use a variety; the Warrior's graphic with either a baton or sword, a soldier graphic with the square helmet and sword, and a pink colored infiltrator's graphic holding a baton. Servile NPCs look much more similar, with the differences being the colors and what they hold (Baton, Sword, nothing in hand). I imagine it'd take a lot of effort to do though...

Also, are any of the soldiers magic users? Mage soldiers seem to be relatively common among both the rebel and Shaper armies, so I'm kinda curious. They'd probably be something like a glass cannon in terms of role if they're included (powerful magic attacks and possibly potent DoT effects, but can't take a hit).

TheKian: Serviles IMO are already strong enough as it is. They don't really need more stuff on top of everything else they've got. From a lore standpoint, maybe Serviles don't have the leadership ability to lead humans? Humans are unable to follow a Servile leader? There's no servile leaders in the rebellion that lead humans, at least to my knowledge. Dunno, it's actually a good question to ask, and I'm trying to think of possible justifications for it aside from the fact that gameplay wise Serviles are a very strong class as it is.

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Sooo... here's my question. Why can't you play the mod as a servile? After all, a servile warrior is likely to be just as competent as a warrior or Guardian PC at fighty stuff, and would benefit especially from being able to get proper help in the form of rebel soldiers.

Because it takes too much extra effort to make the dialogue servile-appropriate.

And since I was initially planning a whole mod based on servile character, which now goes to the back-burner because of the other mod I didn't want to put the effort. It's like asking me why the GF5 Shaper\Lifecrafter mod is not appropriate for Agents\Infiltrators. Weeeeell... it just isn't because it takes too much effort to balance it properly.

If I make a mod for serviles I will make the dialogue appropriate. For serviles. Which means that if you play a mod of mine for serviles with a guardian everyone will assume you're a servile.

You can try to play the mod as a servile, but everyone will react as if you're a human and a Guardian\Warrior at that.

In fact, I think the mod would work nicely* for serviles... except the dialogue.

If there's enough push for serviles, I may do a second pass and make them playable but it's harder than it looks because of specific dialogue based on the assumption you're a human warrior\guardian. And I don't recall every instance of such dialogue. Also, I strongly believe there should be discrimination in Taygen's lands on serviles like every shopkeeper that agrees with Taygen refusing to do business to you, people calling the guards to escort you out of taverns etc. There are a couple of merchants in the Dera Reaches that don't do business with rebels. But they would trade with loyalist geneforged serviles; that's IMO just for the benefit of the player. In the Forts of the Line there's talk of how they shoot serviles first rather than ask questions. A servile with 2 Vlish behind him or her would not be asked for papers realistically there (not, for that matter, someone with 2 drayks behind him or her).

In short... I actually believe serviles should have a very different playthrough in GF5, having to avoid certain shaper Strongholds and many different quests etc.

*however the Servile is a magic-second class, with guides and all on how to play a magician servile and I have not put anything to boost magic skill. I.e. there are no rewards or modifications that will give you more spell energy or boost your magic skills. There is such a baton because the Artifact batons mod is for everyone though. And the recipe to make it is actually... in a book in your base, frankly in your very office.

Gamerman:

I never said the talking NPC is actually a soldier... she is not. Class-wise she is an

incantatrix; Mage with area attack spell and a poison blade.

The human soldier's bonuses you can't see in the short character sheet. But Human soldier beats the servile soldier in one-to-one fight, because of the physical damage, but the servile does much better against say... Kyshaaks, wingbolts, drakons, etc.

Creation attack groups: It's not an everyday occurrence buddy. They happen -twice- in the mod, and in one case you Shape them and leave them to the Drayk we talked about earlier similar to how the Shapers move around, shape creations, release them and then pass by later to calm them.

Losing cool stuff if you betray the rebellion:

True, which is ... realistic. Why would the soldiers keep following your command if you betray the rebellion? Why would Greta keep sending you orders?

And you can always betray the rebellion after you've seen the cool stuff. You can frankly finish the whole story-line and when you get the orders from Greta "OK, Now you should move to finish the war." you can pull out your commander's baton that she gave to you as a reward and shoot your lieutenant, cleave through your base (although the soldiers would be very tough, they will be on par with Alwan's Stormhold troops) go to that nice Turret guy to Lethia pass ask him nicely to change your reputation to pro-Shaper and then go to Alwan.

Sprites: All servile soldiers have the same sprite and all human soldiers have the same sprite.

Mage soldiers: Not the stock soldiers, but the joinable NPCs are mages. Mages are relatively common, but that doesn't make them common. We see perhaps 1 mage for every 10-20 soldiers in the game. You have a mage in your base, but he's a lieutenant.

Quote

especially since I didn't help with the mod at all

????

Buddy, what are you talking about? The three pillars of this mod are: Quests \ Base \ Artifact batons. You made one of the three pillars. I have considered it but I would probably not have done it.

You may say that my part of the mod took me a year to make while your part took less. But you did it. And I got it without any effort and implemented it. And it was a very good idea and the mod is richer because of it.

Servile leaders: There are several, although all I remember lead serviles. "Already powerful enough" is not really a reason to exclude them from a mod that adds content and quests. The player can always put difficulty on hard...

I'll say it again: The only reason I didn't make it servile-appropriate is because... dialogue.

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I was wrong to say I didn't help at all, rather, I felt I could've done more. Perhaps more suggestions and ideas, for example But at the same time, RL issues have taken precedent, so I can't really say I did nothing, thinking about it...

Also, mod is OUT! I'm gonna take a look at it when I have the chance! Thank you alhoon for your hard work!

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Found my first bug already, at the start. One of the options, the "get better at generic skills" option isn't there due to a talk node error. Figured I'd let you know now. I've fixed it already on my game; I've changed the talk node to a different number.

EDIT: Found another bug. This time it's at the Bonepeak Ruins. There's an error apparently in the Bonepeak txt. file. It says: "z59bonepeak.txt Error: Unmatched left bracket in line 411." Could you see if you're getting the same issue? I've attempted to fix it on my thing, but I don't know where the issue is. Could be a bug somewhere else in the file.

EDIT 2: Oh god... the Bonepeak text error bug is far more severe than I imagined. My Guardian has walked directly into the bandit camp. He is finding everyone is frozen, not moving, not attacking. I need to figure out the issue...

EDIT 3: AHA! I found the fix! It was so simply that I feel stupid for not realizing it sooner. See this part of the script?

The fix is to add another one of the "}" symbols at the end of it. So instead of 2 of those "}" symbols at the end, there's 3 instead. Better put it in, btw. The whole zone doesn't function if you don't put it in. Will continue to edit this post the more bugs I find.

EDIT 4: Okay, found another bug. For some odd reason, the Drakon and his group of creations in the Western Wasteland aren't working properly. I end up having him be on my party, for some reason, and he's on the other side of the map. His creations are still there, but the dialogue doesn't fire, and the creations just stand there.

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Alright, I'm playing the mod on Normal, just so I don't frustrate myself. So far, I'm in the Mera-Tev part of the game (I powergame hard when I need to, and I've played the game a couple of times already, so I know a lot of the nooks and crannies for the most part. Easier to speed through).

Very pleased that Astoria gives you a Perfected Thorn Baton almost right after you meet her. That makes much of the game easier to deal with, since you no longer have to worry about ammo. Not mentioning that the Perfected Thorn Baton does much more damage than regular batons.

Liking the fact that Perfected Batons are talked about by certain NPCs; such a powerful weapon deserves some discussion over what it is and what it can do.

EDIT: Alright! I got one of the artifact shields. Gotta say, it's pretty impressive. More armor than a Shaped Shield, bonus to Spellcraft and Parry, Energy and Poison Resistance bonuses... that's pretty good. Here's a hint... if you're a kleptomaniac, the major material you need for this shield is not hard to find.

EDIT 2: Oh, and btw, I may or may not be using my omnipotent scripting god powers to power up my character. I wanna see how fun this mod is without having to feel like I'm pulling my teeth out. Just a warning.

EDIT 3: Forgot to mention, my Guardian got the Energized Sword some time ago... and he is very, very happy. Though tbh, I feel as though maybe you should've added another 1 or 2 sets of Demon's Bile and Mandrake's Tincture, the ingredients for the new artifacts, since it does seem there's a bit of a shortage of that. Just IMO.

EDIT: Ehhh... I don't have that error. For me, it works like a charm. No missing brackets.

Also, there should not be an extra bracket there.

Could you do me a big favor please? Could you check with the script I will send you for bonepeak? It's the original I have in my computer (and the mod) and works for me.

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EDIT: Alright! I got one of the artifact shields. Gotta say, it's pretty impressive. More armor than a Shaped Shield, bonus to Spellcraft and Parry, Energy and Poison Resistance bonuses... that's pretty good. Here's a hint... if you're a kleptomaniac, the major material you need for this shield is not hard to find.

That is not a problem for me.

Which shield is that? Mera Aegis? That is... the minor artifact shield. The two big ones are "Finality" and "Guardian's Bulwark".

The Mera Aegis is a good example of why this mod is for Guardians\Warriors. An agent\infiltrator\sorceress would not trade that shield for either the Finality or Guardian's Bulwark; this one would feel a major artifact for her.

Frankly, with magic being more useful, most other classes except shocktrooper would find more use out of this early-on shield than the later-on shields.

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Yes, the Mera Aegis. That's the shield I made. So you're telling me it's a minor artifact? Oh boy, I'm curious what the major artifact shields look like now... I can't wait.

Also, regarding the bug finding: it's no problem. Powering through the game does allow me to catch any major bugs I find. There are a lot of spelling issues in the mod, but those are minor. I'm checking for massive, zone breaking bugs in my Guardian playthrough.

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A LOT of spelling mistakes indeed. But nothing too serious; I can figure out what the text is saying pretty easily. I'm more worried about any bugs that make a whole zone completely broken. Those break gameplay completely. Typos are way way WAY less of a problem than major gameplay breaking bugs.

Understood regarding the Mera Aegis. Can't wait to get the real powerful shields. In the meantime, aside from the Bonepeak.txt bug on my end, everything else in-game seems fine. It's pretty much a standard Guardian run, only muchstronger and with powerful weapons to boot.

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Okay, I'm starting the on the whole command post thing that the mod touts. Major Shield Recipes are available for purchase, and I've already cleared out Bonepeak. Now I have to go to Rockfall now. I have another character joining me to help with the quest. Alhoon, when you mentioned that the joinable NPC was an incantatrix, I had a sneaking suspicion on who it is. And it looks like my suspicions have been confirmed. For those that don't know (SPOILERS, DO NOT OPEN UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SPOILED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED):

Spoiler

The joinable NPC is Phyllida, the rebel Sorceress in Gazaki-Uss. It's the woman that gives you a quest to retrieve an amulet from the Bonepeak Ruins.

Oh, this is gonna be good... *evil laugh*

EDIT: Quick question, does poisoning the water in the Rockfall Quest do anything? I'm looking at the code right now and I don't see any noticeable flags going off on it. I suspect it does nothing at the moment...

Also, is there actually any way to sneak around the base? Or is it just a simple kill everyone scenario? I can't seem to sneak around because when I try to, I get instantly spotted anyway.

EDIT 2: Rockfall seems to be somewhat bugged as well. Just ran into a warrior NPC in the fort during the quest that didn't turn hostile. It's the one that stands near the Anvil. Might wanna check that. Creations there also seem a little wonky as well; it took them a while for them to 'lock on' to my party and attack me.

EDIT 3: Rockfall Quest complete. I've returned to Greta and she has given me the Bonepeak Ruins for a base. I've been told what I can do with the base. My Guardian and I are excited to see what this entails. Guardian Dakro is heading out now. (Didn't change the name. Sounded fine as is).

EDIT 4: At the base, talked to the lieutenants there. Certainly an interesting addition to the game. They've told me that the soldiers are under equipped, under trained, under supplied, basically business as usual in the Rebellion. No worries though; I've actually stockpiled a large amount of weapons, armor, and other equipment (e.g. Shaping Equipment and other stuff) to help with the base. I knew all that Chitin Armor and Chainmail Vests would come in handy!

EDIT 5: After much effort, I've gotten my troops fully upgraded. And I've gotten that wannabe Lifecrafter lieutenant to a Geneforge to make him a full Lifecrafter! (Who btw is now running at super speed now after his excursion to the Geneforge. XD) He's actually got a cool feature that I was completely unaware of when I finished up his little excursion. I'll leave that as a surprise.

Anyway, I'm about to see the power of fully upgraded troops. Things are going good.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Gameman112358More Questions

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Oh boy, this is bad... I found another bug, and this time, it's a really big one. For some reason, when I try to get my party into the new zone that you guys made, I get an error message stating: "Error! Couldn't place party when entering zone.", then the game shuts off on me. Basically means the new zone is completely inaccessible right now! Might wanna get that checked out.

But aside from that, I am enjoying the mod! I find it hilarious (and kinda heartwarming and cute at the same time) that the joinable NPC that you can have has a bit of a thing for your player character (Warrior/Guardian). She's awesome, btw. AoE fire rain for range, poison (or acid?) attack for melee. Runs out of spell energy real fast though.

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Oh boy, this is bad... I found another bug, and this time, it's a really big one. For some reason, when I try to get my party into the new zone that you guys made, I get an error message stating: "Error! Couldn't place party when entering zone.", then the game shuts off on me. Basically means the new zone is completely inaccessible right now! Might wanna get that checked out.

Similar errors happen in Blades of Avernum sometimes, where they usually mean there's not enough room near the zone entrance. Make sure to allow a generous amount of empty space.

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It happens in other games when leaving combat. There's a weird placement of the party where the game is expecting a certain shape and cleared area in order to place the party. With 7 possible creations you need more space.

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Putting any bugs aside, I will say that I am greatly enjoying the mod. Adds quite a few new cool quests for you to do, and it gives out a lot of cool and extremely powerful weapons and shields for you to use. My Guardian character has been able to power through much of the game because of these weapons.

In addition, the whole "setting up a base and getting troops to come with you" part of the mod is extremely cool. The major NPCs in your base help you manage operations, you've got some cool random events happening there at the base, you can train your troops up yourself to get them stronger... the list goes on. It feels good to use my super high combat stats and leadership stat for something aside from more damage on weapons. Also cool that you can give your troops equipment and weapons to use, which helps to make troops that join you stronger. This is all common equipment and weapons; basically stuff that you'd find lying around or items you were using at the start of the game. One tip though; your training does get less effective the more combat ready your forces are, and giving your troops more equipment does increase how combat ready they are. It's advised to train your troops as much as possible before giving them the armor and weapons. At least that's what I did.

Currently deep in the Dera Reaches right now, looking for ways to use my forces to undermine the mad Sage Taygen's forces. Wish me luck guys!

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Yup, I know about that. Had a very pleasant surprise when I found out how much stronger my Shaping ability was when at the base. I then looked at the text and was like "Ohhhhhhhh... that's why... AWESOME!". Only works at the base, but hey, being able to shape superpowered creations as a Guardian/Warrior is never a bad thing in my books.

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Alright, I'm done with the Kayar's Spire part. I will admit, being able to storm Kayar's Spire with some additional troops is definitely helpful. Though I do feel maybe you should get some more troops with you. Right now you only get two extra soldiers to help you. Maybe four would be better? Dunno, up to you alhoon. But I definitely enjoyed storming Taygen's stronghold and putting an end to his mad project. My Guardian is preparing for the meeting between the Shaper Councilors. His loyalties lie with Astoria and her promise of peace between the Shapers and the Rebellion. Wish me luck!

P.S. The two soldier party members you can get from your base have turned out to be very handy. When fully upgraded (takes a lot of effort to do btw, you have been warned.), they're very strong, and unlike creations, the upgrades on them require zero essence, meaning they can gain more power. Maybe not as much as a Trall, but they're pretty close IMO. And the Sorceress party member is proving very useful with her AoE Purifying Rain and Acid melee. Coupled with my super tanky Guardian leading the charge, I've been enjoying myself with the Guardian, something I haven't really felt before when I play this class (or the Warrior class, for that matter). Good job alhoon!

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If they are indeed close to war-trall and not like half a wartrall, I need to tone them down... Except if you mean after you level them up they come close to a freshly minted war-trall.

Kayar's Spire if you get your allies and tell your lieutenants to weaken the base should be easy to the point of those non-party soldiers being redundant. Also keep in mind, the power of the defenders scales partially with party size and partially with your own power (not just level; your combat abilities).

As a note, she's not a sorceress, she's an incantatrix. She can't shape, hasn't used canisters and hasn't use the geneforge.

As for the Spire (while the other option is still viable) I was going for the feeling "The Rebellion is at your door and we will trash and crash the place"

Before you go to Endgame:

Have you finished the questline of the Fort? There's a huge reward in the end if you're loyal to Greta. Including of course,

- The commander's Baton

- Stats upgrades (depending on if you're melee or missile)

- extra health

- extra walking speed

Also... the mod ends in the endgame. While I boosted the Drakons there, you should have no problem steamrolling them.

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Oh, I didn't know you could go full soldiers. I'll make a note of that. Might go full soldiers on an earlier save of my Guardian run (I made a lot of saves, so I can go back).

Well, yeah, I meant after they got a bunch of levels they become close to trails. If you're talking about when you first get the soldiers? Yeah, they're a half War Trall. My soldiers have been with me for a while, and they got 6 more levels, so that's why they feel so strong. Should've clarified that.

Noted about Kayar's Spire. I've already beaten it though, and it was pretty easy to do; my soldiers, incantatrix, War Trall and Cryodrayk were blasting through everything.

Also, true regarding the incantatrix NPC. Kinda easy to get the two words mixed up.

Also, I'm currently doing the assault on Gazaki-Uss. The incantatrix was hesitant about doing the assault, but I was able to convince her. My Guardian and his group are tearing through the Gazaki-Uss defenders like they're tissue paper. My Guardian's baton has pierced many enemies, and his sword is coated in the blood of the enemy creations and that of the Drakons. Ghaldring will soon meet his demise! Wish me and my Guardian luck everyone!

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Quest line for the fort? You mean the secret lab? Yeah, I did the quest. I got my commander's blade (not baton), though I turned down the canister with the strength and extra speed. Don't ask me why. *I thought something bad would happen... then I realized nothing did. Salt ensued. Also, can I just say right now that my Guardian can pretty much face tank EVERYTHING that the enemy throws at him? Fire? No problem. Ice? Pssh, easy. Physical? LOL. Magic? Nope! It's amazing!

Edited June 1, 2017 by Gameman112358

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Ahh, alhoon, that ally you were referring to in the final battle against Ghaldring? I think I found that ally. I won't spoil anything, but I was very, very happy to see them be on my side. Ghaldring, you are so frigging dead, you overgrown lizard... *evil cackle*

UPDATE: And done! Ghaldring is now dead! My Guardian has won the day, his blade covered with the blood of the Drakons he has slaughtered. Astoria's goal for peace between the Shapers and rebels has been achieved! *Does a little victory dance*. Anyway, yeah, I've finished the game. Normal difficulty, sworn to Astoria faction, playing as a Guardian, using all of the major parts of the mod. I can definitely say that, aside from a few errors here and there, this mod is very enjoyable to play. It definitely makes classes like the Guardian (and probably Warrior) much more powerful and much more fun to play as. It's fun to be able to dish out tons of damage with your blade and baton, all the while face tanking everything the enemy can throw at you, and leading a group of soldiers to fight alongside you. A nice change of pace from either blasting everything with magic until they're dead (Agent, Infiltrator, Sorceress), or just spamming creations until you win (Shaper, Lifecrafter). You've done some great work alhoon, and I can definitely say I've enjoyed myself!

P.S. I'll be doing the challenge zone when I've got the chance. Mostly to see how well the soldiers handle there. Expect an update later.

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Adding more content + fixing some bugs. I will say though that I've been enjoying myself. I've loaded up an earlier save in my Guardian play through, just so I can get two more soldiers with me. My party is now full. My Guardian + Incantatrix NPC + War Trall + Cryodrayk + 4 soldiers. One heck of a powerhouse group right here, I can tell you guys that much.

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This is what I see in the new zone I added once I get in. I also add the image in the spoilers. I used a fresh install of GF5 (Steam version, I have a PC, windows 10) with the mod to make sure there's no redundant stuff.

Spoiler

It works perfectly for me. But Gamerman's game says "not enough space to put party" and closes. Do you think the above actually needs more space? Or it could be something else?

Per his permission, these are his specifications:

Macbook Pro, using the latest game version from the Spiderweb Software website.

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To those that have downloaded the open beta: Ya'll are in for a fun ride. Guardians and Warriors in this mod are much better than they are in the normal game, thanks to the Artifact Weapons and shields that are in this mod. And the later parts of the game where you become a rebel captain are even more fun, where you get to take troops with you on your adventures through Terrestia.

Only thing I will warn you guys about is that the new zone that is in the mod might be bugged out. As stated in the above comments, the zone is completely bugging out for me and keeps giving me the error that says, and I quote word-for-word from the error itself: "Error! Couldn't place party when entering zone." The game then crashes to desktop on me. I'm not sure if this is a Mac issue or if it's an issue regarding the game I'm using (I'm using the latest version downloaded from the Spiderweb Software website), but if any of you guys run into that issue when you come across the new zone, please make a post about it immediately. Or, if the zone works for you guys, tell us that the zone is working. We need to find out if the zone is bugged out or if it's an issue with my version of the game exclusively.

But aside from the new zone being bugged, overall, the mod is great, and I enjoyed it very much. Happy trails everyone!

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I must wonder whether your gf5floorster.txt might be different than other versions. Perhaps you could ask alhoon to send you all of his scripts, to make sure that nothing in the scripts folder is the problem.

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Thanks to everyone who put in hours to get us more Geneforge content! I am really enjoying playing though the mod! I have encountered a bug however in the Foundry Core East. When I try to unlock the door in the core, I am given a choice to make a creation. However, no matter which option I pick the game bugs out. I get the message "z5westfoundlg.txt Error: Unmatched right bracket in line 1463" followed by "Talking Error; Dialogue Script broken or absent." If someone could help me out with this issue, I would appreciate it! I very much would like to finish this amazing mod!

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It would help if you told me what choices do you see, whether you have Phyllida in the party, if you have got the Key from Guardian Volgon (or something, I'm bad with names) etc. Oh, and if you can create Gazers.

Edited June 23, 2017 by alhoon

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Thanks to everyone who put in hours to get us more Geneforge content! I am really enjoying playing though the mod! I have encountered a bug however in the Foundry Core East. When I try to unlock the door in the core, I am given a choice to make a creation. However, no matter which option I pick the game bugs out. I get the message "z5westfoundlg.txt Error: Unmatched right bracket in line 1463" followed by "Talking Error; Dialogue Script broken or absent." If someone could help me out with this issue, I would appreciate it! I very much would like to finish this amazing mod!

Found the bug and fixed it. Download and install the newest version and load your game. It should be fixed. You had really high mechanics to hit that bug... the bugged option is available only at mechanics 12+

Edited June 23, 2017 by alhoon

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Installed the updated version and works like a charm! Great stuff Alhoon I hope if there is ever more Geneforge games made that Jeff incorporates some of yours and Gamerman's ideas into it! I do like to have lots of mechanics to get all the best stuff easy